Heart cells News

The researchers found genes known to form hearts cells in humans and other animals in the gut of a muscle-less and heart-less sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis).

These heart genes generate what engineers calls lockdown loops in vertebrates and flies, which means that once the genes are turned on, they tell each other to stay on in an animal's cells for its entire lifetime.

"Right now, this result may be very useful for clinical studies of the mechanisms of the heart and in the future, we could potentially stop attacks of arrhythmia in patients at the touch of a button," said study co-author Konstantin Agladze from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.